Bo emerged from beneath the table and puffed his chest out.
“Abby did,” my dog announced proudly before I could stop him. “Although I didn’t see the details myself, on account of I was waiting in the surveillance van.”
Pearl twitched her tail. “Waiting for what, exactly?” she sneered.
Bo quietly went back under the table.
I swallowed a groan as nine pairs of eyes swiveled toward me, Oscar’s glinting menacingly from his domain of gloom. I had been doing mybest to pretend my wolf and I were invisible ever since the meeting started.
Samuel’s disquiet danced across the mate bond.
“Look, it wasn’t just me,” I protested awkwardly. “Didi and Mrs. Chen helped, not to mention Melody and the Ashgrove witches.”
“They wouldn’t have been able to do what they did if you hadn’t been there.” Concern and wariness laced Daria’s words in equal measure as she observed me. “I spoke to Didi and Wilhelmina at length.” She wrinkled her brow. “I also examined the scene of your confrontation with Esmeralda.”
I had a sinking feeling what she was going to say next.
Cornelius’s expression sharpened. “What did you find?”
Daria held my gaze, her own clouding over. “It will be months before the magic vestiges disappear. We’ll have to cordon off the area and assign a coven to keep an eye on it.”
I tried not to squirm as the stares became laser like. Mrs. Chen had already warned me the convergence and three ley lines would emit raw magic for some time in response to what I did to them.
“Was it your human white wolf?” Wendall asked stiffly.
I hesitated. The doors swung open before I could reply.
The Lincoln sisters entered theTwilight Conference Roomon a cloud of expensive perfume.
Maude led the way with an ornate walking cane,which she wielded like a potential weapon to smack someone with should anyone step out of line and annoy her. She’d lost some weight during her imprisonment and the high fashion outfit she wore hung a little loosely, but her eyes remained piercing and her magical signature crackled faintly around her like static.
Viola walked at her elder sister’s right shoulder, the witch looking dignified and pale in something that probably cost an arm and a leg. The youngest Petunia brought up the rear, the dark circles under her eyes still visible despite by her makeup.
Melody Flowers came in behind them.
Daria straightened. The rest of the Alliance members visibly stiffened.
It was clear Melody’s presence had not been expected.
My chest tightened a little.
The fae-witch looked nothing like the polished, untouchable creature who’d presided over Alliance meetings in the Lincoln sisters’ absence. Without her glamour on display, she seemed frail and thin, her expression still raw from what she’d experienced at Esmeralda’s hands.
I could tell she still blamed herself for what had happened to the Lincoln sisters.
An expectant hush descended. Maude broke it.
“Contrary to rumors,” the eldest Lincoln sister announced sharply, “we are not lingering near death’s door.” She shot a sharp-eyed look in Oscar’s direction.
The demon shrankin his seat.
“We are aware of the inconvenience our absence has caused to the Amberford supernatural community and we will be redressing the situation shortly.” Maude sniffed. “And no, we do not wish to discuss what that woman’s cellar smelled like.”
“Like a sewer had a baby with a cursed swamp,” Petunia muttered.
Viola shuddered in a way that suggested her sister’s description was unfortunately accurate.
Bo peered out at me with gleaming eyes and slowly wagged his tail.
